Jeanne Gang does better in second version of new skyscraper

Studio Gang Architects

The new design of Wanda Vista tower begins to approach the poetic form of Jeanne Gang's previous work in the celebrated Aqua Tower. The tallest high rise would be thrillingly thin, its top floor plate a square of only 81 feet per side, compared to 194 feet at the nearby Aon Center.

The new design of Wanda Vista tower begins to approach the poetic form of Jeanne Gang's previous work in the celebrated Aqua Tower. The tallest high rise would be thrillingly thin, its top floor plate a square of only 81 feet per side, compared to 194 feet at the nearby Aon Center. (Studio Gang Architects)

“Big Wanda” tower has moved from disappointing to very promising, says Tribune critic Blair Kamin

It's a good thing that the Jeanne Gang-designed Wanda Vista Tower has improved considerably since it was shown last year. In classic Chicago fashion, the public review process for the proposed riverfront hotel and condominium skyscraper is anything but squeaky clean.

As the Tribune disclosed in February, executives, employees and other people associated with the project's co-developer, Magellan Development Group, have donated more than $63,000 to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. And Ald. Brendan Reilly, in whose 42nd ward the tower would be built, has received at least $50,000 from Magellan sources, campaign finance records show.

The donations raise the question of how Emanuel and Reilly can faithfully represent the public interest in this case. Whatever their disavowals, they look compromised. Nothing unusual there. This is the way the real estate game is played in Chicago: soaring design aspirations often go hand in hand with campaign cash.

Naturally, none of this came up at Monday night's community meeting, in which Reilly pledged a deliberative review of the skyscraper and the developers' zoning lawyer, Jack George, dangled the prospect of $19 million in annual real estate taxes—no small thing in a city drowning in red ink.

Magellan and its Chinese partner, the Wanda Group would invest $950 million in the skyscraper.

As in December, when Emanuel prematurely touted it during U.S.-China trade talks here as a "great building," the tower would consist of three interconnected high-rises of 47, 71 and 93 stories on the north end of the mixed-used Lakeshore East development. The proposed height will require city approval because it is more than 500 feet taller than the ceiling allowed by the Lakeshore East master plan.

The basic building block is a truncated pyramid, or "frustum," a shape Gang rationalizes with the argument that different apartments should provide different views—some looking upward, others downward.

Stacks of these slanting forms would wiggle up each high-rise, alternating between convex and concave. Unlike a conventional slab, the staggered arrangement of the high-rises would create eight corners per floor instead of four. The design also would reduce wind forces on the building, reducing the need for expensive structural bracing.

At 1,144 feet, pending certification from the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the Wanda Vista Tower would be Chicago's third-tallest skyscraper and the world's tallest building designed by a woman-owned firm. Yet such superlatives would be meaningless if Gang and her project architect, Thorsten Johann, had not raised the level of their game after releasing early renderings.

Several changes, especially the elimination of inset balconies on the north and south facades and the selection of an energy-efficient blue-green exterior glass of varying shades, make the tower appear more fluid, less creased and less clunky than it did in its previous iteration.

Residents are unsure of a new addition to the neighborhood; however, Chicago's third tallest building currently awaits city approval. (WGN)

Residents are unsure of a new addition to the neighborhood; however, Chicago's third tallest building currently awaits city approval. (WGN)

The three-tiered shape, which Twitter wags are comparing to AT&T reception bars, recalls the boldly-stepping profile of the Willis Tower. But it's fresh—more woven, textured and light-reflecting than the dark Miesian giant. The tallest high rise would be thrillingly thin, its top floor plate a square of only 81 feet per side, compared to 194 feet at the nearby Aon Center.

The new design begins to approach the poetic form of Gang's celebrated Aqua Tower, best known for its undulating balconies. There's an enlivening tension between Gang's use of the pyramid, a form long associated with stability, and the skyscraper's sense of motion. Even if the frustum is a kind of artistic license, the outcome is both rational enough and striking enough to be compelling.

It is equally encouraging that the skyscraper would not be an isolated object—a trophy building, like those in China's new cities, that stands alone.

The design would fill a gap in the wall of skyscrapers on East Wacker Drive, yet its dynamic form and street-friendly scale—the latter achieved with a projecting, ice-cube shaped pavilion housing a restaurant—would enliven that wall. Unlike Aqua, which is largely hemmed in by nearby towers, Wanda Vista would be a skyline standout, presenting a captivating silhouette for drivers heading north on Lake Shore Drive from the Museum Campus.

Gang and the project's landscape architects, Olin of Philadelphia, deserve credit for their plan to extend the dead end of Upper East Wacker Drive with a new public plaza and hotel drop-off area. A proposed road and pedestrian path beneath the middle high-rise would improve the lot of both people on foot and drivers. A pedestrian link between the park at Lakeshore East and the Chicago riverwalk is also a good stroke, though it remains in a conceptual stage.

Neighbors raised valid concerns last Monday about noise from motorcycles that could be roaring through Lakeshore East as a result of the improved road network as well as negative effects often associated with super-tall buildings, among them wind tunnel effects, shadows and a lack of human scale.

All these need to be carefully studied by the city's Department of Planning and Development before the developers get city approval. In the meantime, "Big Wanda" has moved from disappointing to very promising. Further refinements might even make her a worthy skyline gal-pal for "Big John," the X-braced John Hancock Center.